reloading costs

[southernman]

How much can I expect per round for .223, and .2506 .270, I know bullet cost will vary but primers and powder should be close? Have plenty of brass already.
Can anyone recomond a mid range starter press would like to do 12g as well.
Are there any reloading corses avaiable. over a weekend.
Thanks.

[noneck180]

You can get around 7000 grains per/lb of powder at $35-40 a lb
primers $5-$8 a 100
so figure how much powder you use and one primer and you should be close.

[foothillsman]

Depending on components used and the cost of them, expect the cost to run from approx $.60 for 223 to $1 for 270. This is just a guess. Do the math.

[fish_e_o]

it's about $0.40 for my 223
about $0.85 for the .308 win
and about $0.95 for my 300 wsm

not including brass and i use only hornady bullets (v-max in .224 and interbonds in .308 cal) and cci primers, powder differs...

but you could definitely cut costs on the bullets a lot

[Cowtown guy]

Originally Posted by southernman

How much can I expect per round for .223, and .2506 .270, I know bullet cost will vary but primers and powder should be close? Have plenty of brass already.
Can anyone recomond a mid range starter press would like to do 12g as well.
Are there any reloading corses avaiable. over a weekend.
Thanks.

Rifle and Shotgun are 2 different presses.

I started with the Redding Big Boss Pro kit for my rifle reloading. It came with a beam scale, powder trickler, powder funnel, press, reloading block, lube and lube pad, primer pocket cleaner, neck brush and the chamfer tool. Cost was about 400 bucks or so. You still need the appropriate dies, shell holders and case length trimmers.

Since then I have added a digital scale, more loading blocks, COAL gauge and the dummy casings for it, bullet comparator kit, better primer pocket scrubbers, an RCBS hand priming tool/tray and flash hole deburring tool. Next up for me will be the RCBS chargemaster.

Cost per round will vary between hunting and practice as well. If you plan on shooting premium bullets like Barnes they are almost a buck per bullet. I think I bought my last box for $42 for 50 bullets. Definitely use the cheaper bullets to "play" with. Hornady's are very reasonably priced.

Buy lots of loading manuals and continually cross reference the data between them. Don't pull other people's loads for their guns from a forum to use for your gun.

[Rantastic]

primers are 2 cents each so not reallya big factor, I shoot 7mm REm mag and with hornadt SST 139 gr bullets being 35 bucks a 100(35 cents each) and 70 gr of reloader 22 is 35 cents

It costs me 75 cents per bullet. after primer and tax. If i switch up to bergers that are $55 per 100 then cost per bullet goes up 25 cents. to $1 per bullet but thats a premium bullet with a max load of premium powder.... to buy factory ammo of this caliber its around 2 -3 bucks per shot so hell ya its worth reloadin.

Ur 223 id assume will run u 25-40 cents per shot depending on bullet tip cuz they dont shoot much powder.
Ur 25 06 will be just less of the 270 by 10-15 cents per bullet
And the 270 could be as low as 55-60 cents or up to $1 each.

So u can see that those premium boxes of ammo for 80 bucks each are hosing u but if u go to buy the same bullet they use it will probably be a buck each just for the bullets.
Just go find something cheap that shoots well in your gun and make a thousand of em. lol.

I use a Lee challenger(i think thats the model, this ones 10 yrs old) Press $70 and it works great, also lee dies for me. I have used RCBS and like theirs too but cant find a difference for the huge price difference. One thing for sure get the Lee Hand held Auto Prime. Instead of using the press primers. That thing is a great handy tool.

Just dont let someone tell u you need a 500 dollar press. I find its the least inportant part of the process. If ur gonna splurge to save urself alot of time and headaches. Go buy the RCBS chargemaster 1500 powder scale/auto dispenser. The chargemaster takes 20 seconds to weigh and dispense u a perfect charge while ur seating the bullet in the last shell u loaded.

Otherwise u need a good expensive dispenser and a better more expensive scale and then spend 2 to 3 minutes measuring out each load by hand. and u still spend 300 on stuff. might as well spend 170 more for the combo, i promise u wont regret it. I can load 100 7mmRM in an hour because of it. The old way took me 2.5 per hun.

One last thing u will want quality is ur case trimmer. get one that is fast and easy to use. Otherwise brass prep can take forever when u do a hundred at a time. I have an expensive redding one that works but its slow and im definitly looking for something else.

Everything else isnt as important in my experience. And any reloading manual will do. The Lee one seems to work for all bullets. not just one brand say if u buy a speer manual or hornady as far as i know.

Well thast as much knowledge as i can share on that, hope u learned something and as for shotguns ur gonna have to get that out of another guy cuz this one buys his shotgun shells.
One last note, if your looking to be a professional benchrest guy then ur gonna need a 5 thousand dollar setup and my advice is really just for hunters looking to kill at 500m or so. including my chargemaster i have $750 into my reloading setup for my 7mm and 243 but each added cal is only another $20-40 for dies.


As far as reloading courses go, they are out there for $200 or so i have seen but If you want to come on down to edmonton(which ud most likely have to for your course anyways) bring a six pack one night I can show u how its all done and even let you use my stuff to make a ton of ammo. So you will know whats important when u go to buy your stuff. The kits are ok if you only plan to shoot 20 rounds a year but everyone else who buys them replaces almost everything with better stuff anyways so ill show u what u really want/need for your ideal setup and what to do and especially what not to do! Pm me for my number/email if ur interested.

[JWilliscroft]

Originally Posted by noneck180

You can get around 7000 grains per/lb of powder at $35-40 a lb
primers $5-$8 a 100
so figure how much powder you use and one primer and you should be close.

You might want to add in the cost of a bullet as well !! Which can run upto a dollar a round for a premium hunting round or as low 30 cents for a target bullet !!

[hillbillyreefer]

Loading 12 ga isn't worth the expense, time or effort. By the time you buy all the components, setup a press and reload a couple cases of shells, you'll have wasted hours of your time to find out that the components cost you the same as buying factory shells.

[Faststeel]

Originally Posted by hillbillyreefer

Loading 12 ga isn't worth the expense, time or effort. By the time you buy all the components, setup a press and reload a couple cases of shells, you'll have wasted hours of your time to find out that the components cost you the same as buying factory shells.

Well if you won't to load light stuff like 7/8oz loads, making them yourself is doable, with AA factory ammo at $100.00 a flat you can make a case for loading them yourself, only if you plan on shooting several hundred rounds a year.
I'm going to set up my old Ponsness Warren press in our new garage, but I have plenty of components purchased 10 or more years ago. FS

[southernman]

Thanks for the info guys, Crazyfool Might just take you up on that offer.

[lannie]

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp

This may be of interest. Pretty basic calculator.

[noneck180]

Originally Posted by JWilliscroft

You might want to add in the cost of a bullet as well !! Which can run upto a dollar a round for a premium hunting round or as low 30 cents for a target bullet !!

Did you read what the OP wrote?..he knows bullet price will vary and he has plenty of brass..Duh...I really don't need a lesson in the costs of reloading.

[JWilliscroft]

Originally Posted by noneck180

Did you read what the OP wrote?..he knows bullet price will vary and he has plenty of brass..Duh...I really don't need a lesson in the costs of reloading.

My appologies Noneck !! Your right, I never completely read the OP !! I never intended to infer that you could not calculate the total cost !! My mistake !! I need to read more throughly before commenting !! Again My appologies !!

[Jerry D]

My .223 loads run

Primer = 5 cents
Brass (5 firings for this calculation) = 7 cents a shot
Bullet = 27 cents
Powder = 15 cents

Grand total = 54 cents

[Ormachek]

I reload my 7mm-08 for:

Primer= 4.2 cents(winchester)
Brass= free(I have yet to pay for brass, I resize .308, which people seem willing to give away)
Bullet= 30.4 cents (140gr sierra prohunter)
Powder=20.1 cents (42gr varget)

Total= 54.7cents/round of 7mm-08

Prices are based on the current cost of components at WSS including GST

I also load Barnes TSX which raises bullet cost to about $1 for a total of roughly $1.25

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by southernman

How much can I expect per round for .223, and .2506 .270, I know bullet cost will vary but primers and powder should be close? Have plenty of brass already.
Can anyone recomond a mid range starter press would like to do 12g as well.
Are there any reloading corses avaiable. over a weekend.
Thanks.

I have a 12 gauge press I can sell you at a very reasonable cost, it's a Mec 600.
However, if you are looking for speciality loads, hand loading for the 12 is good, if you simply want to hand load for cheaper ammo, it ain't happenin'!
You can buy decent factory ammo in 12 for about the same as you can reload.
Where you get the savings is in the sub gauges.
Cat

[Unregistered user]

Aside from the lower cost, you make better ammo that fits your gun like a glove and it's a relaxing hobby. You probably won't save much money because you'll likely shoot more and have more fun doing it.